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Message |
    
Kjersti Tackett
Yearling
Username: Freetodream
Post Number: 100
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 02:40 pm: | 
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My mom had a foal born this morning about 1am and her mare is Not wanting to
allow the filly to nurse now. This mare is experienced and has been a wonderful
mom to the 2 previous foals. She was good and normal (licked and bonded etc) for
about an hour after the filly was born and then as she passed the placenta she
started cramping hard and rolling/thrashing. On the vets advice we gave banamine
and it worked well enough for about two hours and we were able to hold the mare
still and let the filly nurse (she's gotten plenty of colostrum and is nursing
about 1-2 times an hour). The mare was still obviously in pain and was just
shaking like a leaf. She would only let the baby nurse on one side and got
progressively more nasty towards the filly's attempts at nursing at all and
actually nailed her with a back foot once. Right after that the vet came to
examine them and ultimatly all is well health wise for the two of them and he's
not sure why the mare is cramping and painful but feels like the mare just
started associating the baby with pain and thus she's not liking her at the
moment.
He sedated the mare with Promace and that takes the edge off and she's ok with
the filly nursing but it doesn't last very long (like 4 hours) and then she's
nastier than ever trying to bite and kick the filly. So my question is has
anyone else been through something like this? Why would she be great with the
other two foals and then do this this time? Any other suggestions? I hate to
keep her sedated constantly but thats really the only way that she'll tolerate
the filly nursing. Do they ever just all the suddenly decide the foal is ok
after all or are we looking at a bucket baby eventually? Is there a non
injectable or longer lasting form of Ace that we could try?
The filly is absolutely normal. She's huge and the mare required help with the
delivery as the shoulders were stuck. The vet said the mare is bruised but
couldn't find anything else wrong (he's extremly competent and has been our vet
for years). This is an arab mare and the sire of the foal is an oldenburg but
the filly is a full 42" tall and over 100lbs but she's very strong and filled
out.
One other odd thing is that this filly doesn't usually lay down to sleep. she's
only laid down three times in 11 hrs. she just dozes standing up. Once she was
standing she was up for 4 hours after she was born before she laid down. I'm
sure she's getting enough to eat now and can hear her slurping as she nurses and
the mares bag is deflated well too so I dont' think it's because she's not
getting enough food. Does it just take some of them longer to learn to lay down
like normal foals do? should I be concerned? the vet wasn't concerned and said
she'd figure it out eventually but I wanted to ask anyway.
Thanks again,
Kjersti |
Ad TB
Breeding Stock
Username: Ajvtbs
Post Number: 771
Registered: 01-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 07:17 pm: |
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I've had experience with mares being in a lot of pain post foaling and having no interest in the foal what so ever. We had one this year that would have killed the foal if we hadn't taken her out of the stable, we then sedated the mare and gave her pain meds and she was ok for a while but the same thing happened later on and further sedation and pain relief sorted her out.
On the foal standing up all the time. We had one last year who has mild dummy foal syndrome. He wouldn't lie down and eventually his legs started to swell up. We had to go in and knock him to get him to lie down and sleep every few houre. eventually he figured it out but it took a few days. |
Pam Romjue
Nursing Foal
Username: Pammy
Post Number: 12
Registered: 08-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, May 07, 2009 - 07:01 pm: |
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How is your mare and foal doing? Any change? Good Luck! Sorry I don't have any answers for you! |
Cjskip
Breeding Stock
Username: Cjskip
Post Number: 904
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, May 10, 2009 - 02:48 am: |
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I hope things are okay by now. I've read that the mare can associate the pain with the foal nursing. This can be due to an over distended udder and/or post delivery pain. The solution, from what I've read, is pain medication, which seems to help in most of these cases. Of course a vet would know what kind can be given to a lactating mare. I wouldn't try to suggest a particular one.
I hope you have a good vet and all is well now. Please let us know. |
Kjersti Tackett
Weanling
Username: Freetodreamarabians
Post Number: 23
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 02:40 am: |
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The mare and filly turned out to be just fine. The mare actually ended up having impaction colic and after we convinced the vet that the mare was indeed in PAIN and not just being nasty he came out again palpated and found the impaction. It took quite awhile after being tubed with oil/water to get her gut moving but it eventually worked and she felt much better and got back to being her baby loving self. So it's a happy ending this time and the filly is growing like a weed! Thanks everybody of and with regards to the standing up tp sleep thing she still does that from time to time but not very often. Honestly i think it just took a little while for her to figure out how to fold the stilt legs she has to be able to lie down. You could see that she wanted to she would just give up and go to sleep standing. very strange I've never seen that before but whatever she's great in every other way. |
Samantha
Breeding Stock
Username: Dressage_diva333
Post Number: 643
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 03:06 am: |
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Glad to hear that it all worked out!
Now, where are the pictures of the filly?  |
Jan Owen
Senior Stallion or Mare
Username: 1frosty1
Post Number: 2429
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 01:43 pm: |
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That is great news...so glad you were persistent about your mare and getting her the help she needed. I am with Samantha...pictures please |
Cjskip
Breeding Stock
Username: Cjskip
Post Number: 918
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009 - 02:22 am: |
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How is the baby doing? So very glad you got things figured out. Sometimes we know our horses better than anyone and know when they are behaving badly, or really have a problem.
Where's those pictures? |
